Grocers push other greens with eye on economic toll

SAN FRANCISCO — Grocers tried to lure shoppers with alternative greens, as experts assessed the impact of a national recall of spinach because of an E. coli outbreak on companies that handle and sell produce.

Business experts said spinach growers may be able to minimize their losses if they keep the public informed and remind consumers of the message from Popeye and Mom — that spinach is good for you.

E. coli cases linked to the tainted spinach have been reported in 21 states, with Wisconsin reporting the most cases, including the death of a 77-year-old woman. A death in Ohio was being investigated. The bacteria has sickened more than 100.

Sixty people have been hospitalized in the outbreak traced to bagged, fresh spinach from California's Salinas Valley.

Women accounted for 75 percent of the cases, since they probably eat more spinach, Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat fresh spinach, prompting grocery stores from Maine to California to pull it from their shelves.

"We've taken this as an opportunity to feature other greens," said Kate Lowery, a spokeswoman for Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, which has 186 stores nationwide.

She said Whole Foods is featuring leafy greens such as arugula, kale and mache to woo shoppers who normally buy fresh spinach.

Spinach is a $200 million annual business in the United States with sales on the rise.

Americans consumed 2.2 pounds per person in 2005, up from 1.6 pounds in 2000 and 0.6 pounds in 1996, according to the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association.

Grocers say people aren't staying away from produce, but they are making small changes to their shopping habits.

"We have quite a group of shoppers who like their greens. I'd like to think of this as an opportunity until spinach gets back on track," Lowery said. "You are going to turn on someone who wouldn't normally have an arugula salad."

Boulder, Colo.,-based Wild Oats Markets will begin receiving new bagged salad mixes today or Wednesday that don't include spinach, spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele said.

The company also will be playing up different "epicurean" greens that have similar qualities to spinach, including red lettuce and baby romaine. Some officials said the real fallout from the tainted spinach won't be felt by grocers and distributors, but by the farmers and the produce companies that buy their spinach.

Two of those companies — Salinas-based River Ranch Fresh Foods and Natural Selection Foods, based in San Juan Bautista — both recalled their bagged spinach.

"The growers, the producers are most interested in finding the answers to these outbreaks," said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., whose district includes the Salinas Valley. "These outbreaks can bankrupt these companies."

Natural Selection has recalled 34 brands of fresh spinach products, distributed throughout the United States as well as to Canada, Mexico and Taiwan. The brands include the company's own as well as private labels sold by other companies.

FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro dismissed a claim by Natural Selection Foods, the company linked to the outbreak, that its organic spinach products had been cleared of suspicion. Meanwhile, the FBI is monitoring the situation, said spokesman Rich Kolko. He called it a routine and precautionary measure, not an indication of suspicious activity.

The strain was associated in the 1990s with contaminated, undercooked hamburger meat served at Jack in the Box restaurants and unpasteurized Odwalla apple juice. Odwalla sales plummeted after a 1996 outbreak killed a baby girl and sickened more than 60 others. The company paid a $1.5 million fine after pleading guilty to 16 misdemeanor criminal charges.

Crisis-management experts said by being forthcoming, the spinach industry could weather the crisis much as the makers of the pain relief medicine Tylenol did during a deadly product-tampering scare almost 25 years ago.

Parent company Johnson & Johnson removed all Tylenol from the shelves and did not hide from the spotlight while remaining compassionate toward victims.

"Tylenol is the gold standard for how you reassure the public," said Jeff Lloyd of Sitrick and Company, crisis-management specialists.

Reed Mangels, a dietitian with the non-profit Vegetarian Resource Group, said she expected only a temporary impact because people understand the health benefits of spinach — it is high in fiber and beta-carotine — and won't give it up.

"People are smarter than that," she said.